Uncommonly lovely botanical creations by Seattle-based designer Mari Malcolm. Florals for special occasions, container gardens, and pocket installations in the Greater Seattle Area with plants of exceptional variety and vigor. Currently accepting interesting commissions on a very limited basis.

Container Gardens

From a narrow window ledge to a grand entry, inside or out, a container garden brings instant lushness. I love creating dramatic focal points that enhance the beauty of their surroundings, or making a special little container garden as a birthday gift.

Sempervivum strewn with String of Pearls, in a swirly copper vintage pan.

Floral Design

I've always reveled in making bouquets from the garden, but this past year I got serious about floral design and spent three intensely inspiring days with Francoise Weeks in her workshop, learning the art of designing for weddings. I'm especially inspired by the interplay of live plants and cut flowers.

Wrist Coursages

Because who wouldn't want to wear flowers instead of bracelets?

Woodland Wedding Cake

I created this for the 2015 Northwest Flower & Garden Show, and it won the People's Choice Award and 2nd Place in the Floral Competition. I'd love to make another one--slightly less tall, with an edible cake top--for a real wedding! [Photo by David Perry]

A Slice of Cake

A delightful birthday gift that lasts for weeks--or a fun centerpiece for weddings.

Wedding Cake Closeup

Mostly live plants, with dramatic cut flowers--protea, gravellia, pieris, snake's head fritillary, and a whole lot of texture. If I were a fairy queen, this is what I'd want at my wedding.

Woodland Centerpiece

My version of a woodland arrangement, inspired by Francoise Weeks. I love and emulate her use of texture, bold foliage, and use of beautiful edibles, like persimmons and Asian cucumbers! I created this one at her Wedding Design workshop in her studio, and it's still one of my favorites.

Woodland Closeup

True, I've never been in a woodland that looks quite like this--but a girl can dream.

European Style Hand-Tied Bouquet

Elegant elements and joyful texture.

Sweet Flower Crown

Adorable adornments for flower girls and bridesmaids.

Everlasting Centerpiece

For Thanksgiving, I filled an old silver gravy boat with preserved treasures. Months later, it's looking just as perky.

Installations & Pocket Gardens

Show me a wall or a narrow strip of soil, and I'll show you a pocket garden waiting to happen. I believe in packing a lot of intriguing color and texture into a small space, and I'm always up for integrating a cool find. Let's talk possibilities.

Anchored in Succulents

This anchor hooked me at a garage sale, and I mixed it with driftwood and bottles to create a low succulent wall.

Golf Club Bouquet

An antique store owner friend was throwing these out. They got back on the green at the garden's entrance. (Old golf clubs also make excellent plant supports.)

The Elephant Patch

In the '50s, they sometimes made slides out of rusty metal with sharp edges. This elephant was the side panel from one such slide, and he looked amazing in a narrow bed flanking a pathway.

Hellstrip Ovehaul

This used to be a strip of dead grass. I lushed it up like crazy, in a drought-tolerant way.

Shade-Loving Border

You can pack a lot of splashy foliage in a bed that's less than 3 feet deep.

Succulent Tapestry

I love doing this, horizontally or vertically.

My Favorite Garden Visitor

Wherever I can plant living hummingbird feeders, I will do it. Having them visit your garden is a perpetually magical experience, and they need the nectar.

Lusher Life Studio in The Seattle Times

Mari Malcolm at work in the DIG Nursery greenhouse, adding a trailing succulent to hang down over the edge of a lightweight hover dish, from Pot Inc. (by Sylvia Matlock for The Seattle Times)

Botanical Cake Workshops

When my Woodland Wedding Cake won the People’s Choice Award in the 2015 Northwest Flower & Garden Show’s Floral Design competition, people got most excited about one little slice: the Facebook photo was shared nearly 17,000 times and drew over 1.4 million views from around the world.

If you're in the Seattle area and want to learn my techniques for turning a brick of Floral Soil™ into a slice of “cake” and frosting it with moss, lichen, succulents, and other bits of botanical loveliness, let me know you're interested in a workshop by giving me a call or texting me at 206-375-8028. Once we gather a group of 5 or more, we can make a date!

Note that this "cake" is not edible--it's a playful, long-lived kind of floral design.

The original Woodland Wedding Cake slice at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show

The Latest on Instagram

Sometimes before I crawl in, I take one last look at the night garden through the screen.

We’ve hit peak cherry tomato in the balcony pots! They’re underplanted with basil, so it’s prime time for caprese salads with those baby mozzarella balls.
Hope you have some delicious weekend plans, too! 🍅I’m excited to be sticking closer to home after spending last weekend on the island (and a busy work week).

My best guess is hawk. Found this one in our future garden and had to take it home.
#orcasisland #feathers

Crab family portrait. Hard to get one where everyone’s smiling, but I think we did it.
#orcasisland #sanjuanislands

Last night on the land with @deckled and V felt just right.
Friday night, rain we didn’t expect started at about 1:30, so loud against the tent it kept us up for hours. Jon heroically ran outside to cover our gear, and we got enough rest to hike and kayak around Cascade Lake yesterday. By evening, we were ready for this spectacular sunset and a night of easy sleep. By the time I woke up, I felt better than I had in weeks.
It’s amazing how less than 48 hours on #orcasisland can completely reset your equilibrium.

Sol and Luna, longing for the moment I stop planting and carry them (one by one) around the garden, so they can taste their favorite grasses without escaping into the wider world. Sol purrs. Luna’s heart beats very fast. I always feel a little guilty shutting them back in, even though I know it’s for the best.

The Nootka roses are in bloom right now on Mount Constitution. One of the very best places to sit and take in the world.
#orcasisland #sanjuanislands #pnw

Everything is illuminated. Golden hour in the garden with @deckled. ✨💦

Our climbing roses exploded into bloom this week! Last year they bloomed until Thanksgiving. I love how they look against the brick from next door—in fact, I bought this townhouse in part because I was imagining this very scene. Always amazing to imagine something beautiful and make it happen. 🌿
Hope you get to create or enjoy beauty this weekend!
🌱
#gardenlife #plants #roses #plantsofinstagram #plantsmakepeoplehappy #gardening

Good night, sweet garden. Wish I could have played with you today.
Here’s the view from our bedroom balcony. I spend most of my waking life in an office downtown, in meetings and spreadsheets and documents. I believe in my work. But it’s also in service of a larger dream of someday spending more time with plants. I know many of you do the same, whether it’s for plants or your art or a different kind of creative freedom. May all of us live that dream someday.
#mygarden #plants #plantsofinstagram #seattlegarden #gardenlife #garden #gardening #gardeningmakesmehappy

“He’s like a monk. Do you see him? He’s like a monk.” — @deckled

You can almost see in the lower left corner the start of the trail @deckled and I made on our land on Saturday. This place is steep, and you have to be careful not to slip off the 100-foot bluff to the beach below. But the beauty and bird song are worth it.